Delighted when the Klingenschoen Foundation, manager of Jim Qwilleran's estate, approves the construction of a new bookstore on the site where the late Eddington Smith's bookstore had burned down, the citizens of Moose County are stunned by a brutal murder during the gala groundbreaking, and it is up to Qwill and his feline sleuths, Koko and Yum Yum, to investigate. 200,000 first printing.

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I have read all of Ms. Braun's delightful Cat Who novels, and find them good, escapist fiction. While they all fall under the mystery genre, in some the mystery is more fully developed than in others. This is one of those with a less developed mystery, with the focus of the book being on the main character, James Mackinosh Qwilleran, and his Siamese cat companions, Koko and Yum-Yum.The main plot of the story revolves around the 200th birthday of Brrr, the oldest and coldest community in Moose County, 400 miles from anywhere. The author describes many charming activities the town plans to celebrate this occasion. One of them is Qwill's dramatic reenactment of the Great Storm of 1913, a passage I found to be exciting and interesting. There are many sub plots, such as the building of a new bookstore which Qwill's erstwhile "significant other", Polly, is to run, and the opening of the Carroll Museum, a project which Qwill himself suggested to Dr. Carroll's widow, Edythe. The museum does not please Mrs. Carroll's daughter, Alicia (nicknamed Lish), at all, as she expected to inherit the fine house and all its contents.Ultimately, the mystery is an afterthought in this book, as other readers have mentioned. The title has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, unless I missed something, but is rather a reference to some visitors Qwill has in his yard.I still enjoyed the read, full as it was of the Moose County personalities I have grown to love. I never really read these for the mystery anyway, more for the people and the cats. If you feel the same way, give it a read. You will enjoy meeting your friends again!

I didn't find this book as bad as some of the previous reviewers did. I do admit that it probably isn't my favourite Qwill book, but it is still a charming tale anyway. In it we see Qwill and the indomitable KoKo trying to make sense out of two killings - one on Qwill's property by the lake and one in Milwaukee. To Qwill and his "smart cat" there is one thing that these two killings have in common, and the arrival of a woman to the town of Brr, seems to have some connection. She's someone who used to live there, but has been gone for a long time. Don't worry, it will all make sense in the end, and Qwill and KoKo manage to identify the person responsible for these strange goings on. Ms. Braun's books are still charming and wonderful - and great escapist reading.

For long time cat who fans, this book will be a disappointment! The prologue and first 15-20 pages does not follow Braun's writing style at all. We all know that the Cat whos start in a certain way, they've started the same way for 25 books and this one is completely different. There are obvious errors in character development. There is a passage where Qwill takes the cats up to the lake, and Yum Yum and Koko snuggle contentedly during the ride. As well all know Yum Yum travels at a rate of 40 yowls an hour. Then later Qwill heads up again this time he grabs Yum Yum before she can protest and stuffs her into the cat basket.The voice of the narrative changes again again, from what we all recognize as Braun's style to some strange style that reminds me of a twelve year old summarizing a text. I honestly think braun was not the only author on this text, if she needs help or his preparing the cat whos to transfer over to a new writer, she needs to get a new coauthor because this one isn't working. Take a page from Joanne Walsh who is writing the new Lord Peter Mysteries and is doing an excellent job. This is a truly poor text with bad writing a pointless plot. I cannot consider this book a mystery as it is page 105 before any hint of mystery starts to come through the text and as others state the murder does actually walk up to Qwill and confess literally! As for the parts about Brrr and pickax while entertaining doth not a mystery make!

I think the title of my review sums up my feelings fairly well. I loved the first few "Cat Who ..." stories, enjoyed most of the later ones, but this book just left me scratching my head.Firstly, this was 180 pages, with really big type. Not that I have a problem with big type, but in this case it meant that the story was barely breaking a hundred pages of a normal paperback-book sized book. And of those, there was so little of the actual story! This wasn't a murder mystery, this was "a day in the life of a man who owns two cats and lives in a barn in the middle of nowhere". Qwill writes a little, feeds the cats, gossips, feeds the cats, hears about a murder but pays very little attention, goes on a date, gives the cats a treat, and so on, and so on ....It was unbelievably dull.There was no character development at all! Nothing interesting ever happened, the so-called 'storyline' was painfully slow, and I found myself really not caring. What happened to the Qwill we all knew and loved? The one whos mustache would bristle at the sign of foul play, the Qwill that investigated mysterious cases and challenging murders? The interesting Qwill! He's vanished, and in his place, we have a sad, boring man, who is not at all interesting to follow around, and who's contribution to solving the murder ON HIS PROPERTY was, what--- puzzlement?I'm dreadfully, DREADFULLY disappointed.If you've read the whole "Cat Who ..." series, then my feeling is that you can skip this one; you won't have missed anything, I promise. If this was to be your first "Cat Who ...", I really suggest you put this one back, and try something closer to the beginning; you will enjoy it far more, I can assure you.

The Cat Who Talked Turkey was a big disappointment to me. I had the strange feeling that Ms. Braun didn't author this book at all. After reading most of her The Cat Who .... books I've grown accustomed to her unique style of writing which I have loved. This time her style wasn't as prevalent.